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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Le Métier de Beauté Holiday 2011: Antiquité Poupée

What's nice about friends who visit? Friends who visit with the most anticipated Holiday makeup item in their travel bags. Listen closely and you'll hear a really faint but persistent high-pitched "eeee" in your ears, that's the sound I made when he laid this out before me.

Le Métier de Beauté Antiquité Poupée consists of a light champagne pink, a silver taupe with hints of khaki, a terracotta red, and a midnight blue silver. I can already envision hordes of people going crazy over the taupe and the blue.

Clockwise: Antiquité Poupée from top to bottom

L-R: Swatched from bottom to top

This monolid shot is for you, Isla!

Utilizing this kaleidoscope with the couches de couleurs (if that term doesn't make sense to you, let me direct you to my Penelope tutorial!) method delivers a soft sterling pink on the lids. Dustin was extensive in his application but I had my eyes closed and wasn't allowed a mirror till it was done, so I can't really say what went on. I know he used the Dualistic Pencil in Champagne as a base. From the pictures, I'm guessing he layered the pink, taupe, and terracotta red over each other, and used the blue-silver shade a little closer to the lashline (already lined with Noir liquid liner) to smoke out the eye. He dipped a liner brush into all four shades to shade the lower lash line, and used the pink shade to highlight the inner corners. For lashes, he used a coat of Anamorphic Mascara in Aubergine.

For lips, he specifically mentioned he wanted a sort of stained look, as if one just finished eating a popsicle, and delivered this vision through a touch of Colour Core Moisture Stain Lipstick in Bali in the center of the lips with a layer of Clearly Brilliant Lip Gloss. My lips are naturally pigmented so he had to apply concealer to the outer edges to tone down the color. Lastly, he used Rumor blush and some intense dabbing specifically on the apples of the cheeks. The result is a very doll-like countenance, which makes perfect sense considering antiquité poupée means "ancient doll" in English.

We took half a dozen of photos where I looked like a fail ninja geisha person until I was told not to smile and the photo finally turned out decent. I was completely overshadowed, of course.

The pictures below were taken after I got home. The lip he created for the look had already faded and in my attempt to recreate it I realized in total dismay that I did not own a clear lip gloss. Some appropriate adjectives to describe this situation: appalled, incredulous, uh... (the writer has short-circuited).

Anyway, concentrate on the eyes!

Le Métier de Beauté Antiquité Poupée is the stuff of dreams. The shadows are not only quadruple-milled but also pearl-based, so imagine Le Métier shadows but even softer. When he applied them on me it felt like he was sweeping clouds on my eyes (perhaps important to note: he used the brand's eye shadow brush). I'm sure all this sounds like hyperbole and the skeptic in you have your (perfectly tweezed/threaded/waxed) eyebrows raised. But only a hundred of these will be produced, so do you really want to take the chance?

Antiquité Poupée will retail for $95 and will be exclusively available at Bergdorf Goodman on December 1. I bet half of you already know Dustin's number by heart, but in case you don't, call 212-872-8612 to pre-order yours now. Historically speaking, clichés like "flying off the shelves" and "selling like hot cakes" apply to every single one of Dustin's creations. How I ever got my hands on them (before I knew him) is a complete mystery to me.

Anna- ooh preemptive congratulations! There will only be 100 of this produced and while I cannot be 100% certain, I think all of it will go directly to the Bergdorf's counter. I think it'll be safer if you call him directly to order :)

Hello! I've been following you for a while but haven't commented before :)

I did want to say that while the eyeshadow (and swatches!) look very nice, I'm honestly not very impressed with the MUA's application overall. I think the eye makeup looks muddy doesn't show an understanding of how to handle Asian monoloids. The cheeks also seem unblended and the stained lip effect, while pretty on its own, with the other elements makes it all look a bit...childish. *cringe*

BUT I say this mostly because it's such a stark contrast to the impeccable application I've seen you do on your own face so far. As a fellow monolided Asian, I especially love getting inspired by your creative lipstick choices :)

Sophie- Helloooo, Sophie! Thank you for commenting. I always like to talk to my readers!

Some things to address regarding your response! The cheeks and lips as you see in the pictures are done quite deliberately to achieve the doll-like effect. In fact, for the dots on the cheeks, he literally only put it on just before we took the pictures. I think Dustin applied it on me as how he originally envisioned it (perhaps like how one would for an editorial in a magazine?) and not so much to achieve the everyday look, so to speak. I don't know if this look in its entirety is meant for the casual stroll... though I don't see why not if anyone is so inclined. I walked out of Neimans without tampering with the look :)

Note: Of course, I don't want you to think I'm jumping to the defense of the MUA because he's also my friend. I just wanted to let you know his process of creating this look in hopes that it might explain why you find the application jarring.

To the last bit - thank you for the kind words! Though "impeccable application" is such a stretch to describe what I cobble together for myself :) I'm glad I'm starting to find out that among Messy Wands readers is a great community of monolidded people. I've never felt so "included" in my life :D

As an aside, finding new ways to play with lips seems to be my new goal in life!

Dain- Sharp eyes you have - your comment suggests we might be in close proximity even as we type! Perchance you're from/currently reside in Boston? *wide eyes and hopeful*

as always, you have made me yearn for something i can't figure out how to get. i am literally drooling over this kaleidoscope but as i live in a us territory, bergdorf goodman won't ship eyeshadows to me (i have no idea why not as nordstroms always has). *sigh* maybe i'll call your mua just to give it a shot anyhow?

Do you have the Smoldering Embarkment kaleidoscope, and if so, how does it compare to this one in terms of the overall effect? Would you say the final color of Antiquite Poupee is a deep color, or more light? I usually use all the colors of Smoldering Embarkment layered over one another (I like a pretty strong eye), so I was wondering how dark and smokey Antiquite turns out. Great pictures, as always!

Oooh! You look amazing as usual! I love that you include photos of how the kaleidoscopes look applied on the eye. I can never picture how the colors will look when layered as they are intended to be, and it's always a surprise to me!

As far as you know, is LMdB starting to do more of these very limited, store specific Kaleidoscopes? I hope this isn't going to be a major direction for them as it's a little frustrating for those of us not near counters and without a lot of time to treasure hunt! On the other hand, maybe it's a good thing for my wallet!

Only 100 at a limited location? Whyyyyyy?! It's gorgeous, but like the other posters, I don't live somewhere I can easily obtain one, no matter how badly I want it. I echo the hopes that they won't keep doing this super-exclusive stuff. Le Metier is breaking my heart this winter!

A monolid shot, just for me?! I feel so special--but from the other comments, I think a bunch of your readers are happy to see BOTH of your lovely eyes--the monolid too! :) THANK YOU! :D That look IS a bit more stylized/high fashion than usual/casual, but OH, so gorgeous...I don't blame you for keeping it on without tampering!

@ Megan - Best Things in Beauty reported that Mikey Castillo is coming out with a new eye kaleidoscope at the beginning of '12: "The Kaleidoscope is a tribute to French cinema of the 1960's. The shades - the basics reinvented - will be, simply described, rose champagne, taupe, tan, and black." It should be good!

rochelle- You should try calling Dustin. Bergdorf's ships internationally so I don't see why they can't ship it to you :)

Katie- I do have and love SE as well! How should I answer you. hmmm

Both SE and AP are created with the same LMdB formula in mind (I think I should elaborate on this one day. Basically the brand has a way to select the four colors you get in a kaleidoscope to make sure it'll go together). I don't know what you mean by "more deep or light" as both SE and AP can be made darker or lighter depending on how much of the last shade you use. When layered, SE turns out to be sort of an amber brown shade, whereas AP seems to be more of a pink silver. While it looks light in the pictures above I have no doubt you can make it as smokey as you like.

I hope I answered your questions! I don't have AP with me so I'm not able to play with it and give you comparison notes. Sometimes I wish Dustin could pop up and answer these questions himself :P

Dain- sneaky!

Allison- As far as Dustin is concerned, he always makes two kaleidoscopes a year for the brand. This only began a year ago and so far it has always been just 100 of them produced. I understand your frustration with the limited amount (believe me. I get heart palpitations everytime a new one comes out) but I think one of the reasons Le Metier is doing it is to let more of their artists have a chance to make their own kaleidoscopes. (Don't quote me on that though, just a guess :)

But I do think at least 200 of Dustin's would help. His stuff sells out within days. And with all the advance pre-orders I'd be surprised if any will be left by the time Dec 1 rolls around. I suggest everyone tweet/facebook/email and let Le Metier know your frustrations!

Ylesuin- *pats shoulder*

PerilouslyPale- I knew you'd love it!

Megan- ah, Leigh already replied you below. Mikey's kaleidoscope will be available in January. No need to panic... yet!

It's a good thing I don't have a Bergdorf ANYWHERE near me- bc I'd be broke buying high end lovely products like these!! Your lip stained look is what impresses me most-so gorgeous!!! Glad I found your blog from Glitter Geek-I'm a new follower!!http://www.jennysuemakeup.com

com/ and I gotta state, you have a sleek blog layout.How long have you been blogging for? The way you do all of this makes it look like a piece of cake. The entire look of your website is fantastic, not to mention the articles.

Hi, lovelies. Due to excessive spam, I would appreciate it if you refrain from including self-promoting links in your comments! This ensures that your comment will be visible and keeps the section clean. I look forward to hearing from you!